In many ways, Sonita is like any other teenage girl: She loves music, dreams of being famous, and giggles and jokes with her friends. But Sonita, who grew up in a strictly Muslim household in Afghanistan before fleeing to Iran with her sister, faces challenges no young woman should have to experience. Her mother would like to sell her as a bride to a much older man in a tradition of forced marriage that has long trapped young Afghan girls in a cycle of oppression, forced domesticity and dashed ambitions.

Despite the pressures exerted by her family, home country and culture, Sonita doesn’t give in. Instead, she mounts a campaign of music and hope against child brides, dreams big and — with the help of unlikely allies — works hard to forge a new destiny for herself.

Sonita, a film by Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami, offers a triumphant portrait of a modern-day hero who risks it all to create a better life for herself — and for all Afghan girls.